Connecticut Recruiting, Marquette Recruiting, Pittsburgh Recruiting, Rutgers Recruiting, Seton Hall Recruiting, Syracuse Recruiting, Villanova Recruiting, Zach Smart

TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE FIRST EIGHT

At 3:30 AM, young Zach penned this preview with tip just hours away

By ZACH SMART

It was the night before First Eight, Basketbull’s inaugural 1-day battle to the bone…

All through Springfield, the national pressure cooker was stirring.

The spaceship has officially arrived. The extraterrestrial ballers have arrived in droves for a weekend anticipated to attract a surplus of Division-1 coaches.

“This event is going to be a who’s who of America’s top recruits,” as one New York area talent evaluator told me.

Been here for 20 minutes, and I’ve already seen license plates from just about every state. Also got into a spat with a few folks here for a titanic lacrosse tournament. I preached to them for a good ten minutes, illustrating the same point relentlessly: laX, as they call it, is not actually a sport.

The preppy, elitist attitude-having kids weren’t having any of it. I told them they should respect history, Dr. Naismith knew what he was doing here with those peach baskets.

The caviar-consuming, condescending individual who created a sport only played at fancy private schools must have been twisted.

Now, let’s get down to brass tax.

The good fellas at Basketbull are playing host to convincingly the most loaded tournament during the NCAA live tournament this sizzling July.

Just a few players I’ll be hounding down tomorrow:

-Tristan Thompson, an ultra athletic forward at Findlay Prep in Nevada. Findlay has suddenly become a national powerhouse, and the third-year program breeds top prospects like the rest of ud wake up in the morning. Thompson, he of the springy bounce, transferred to the desert after getting the boot from St. Benedict’s Prep….The Texas-commit is worth the price of admission…

-DaJuan Coleman, a beastly 6-foot-8 sophomore at Central NY power Jamesville-DeWitt. He’s a prodigy who changes the game immensely. This jumbo forward-center has the body of a bulldog, the polish of a puppeteer. He’s made the same rapid, shit-to-sugar basketball ascension as Florida State blue chip recruit Michael Snaer. While Snaer would travel every time he touched the rock (before cooking jokers to the recipe of 30 points and 10 boards per), Coleman would post up with his hands in his pockets. Tutoring from older, established players and a knack for tearing down boards has helped him come into his own. His one-time teammate Brandon Triche, an electrifying guard, is regarded as the gem of Jim Boeheim’s 2009 recruiting class. I see…the future…..Coleman in a Syracuse jersey!

-JP Kambola, a 6-foot-10 center who can patrol the paint as good as anyone in the country. Watching this premier interior presence go to work should be intriguing. He’s being eyed by UConn, Seton Hall, Rutgers and Kansas.

-Dwight Powell, a local brain surgeon (DP’s game has become the fancy of first-class schools such as Harvard, Stanford, Vanderbilt, UCLA, and Virginia) is rumored to have Mike Dunleavy-type court sense and superior post game. At 6-10, don’t sleep on the power forward from IMG Academy.

Shabazz Napier-Don’t let his paper-slim frame fool you…this little guard will run up the court and drain a trey from the parking lot before you can ask “who’s got him?” The junior is already getting love from Villanova, Seton Hall, Rutgers, Marquette, Pittsburgh and a host of other Big East schools…

There’s a billion other names to list and keep a lookout for tomorrow…so you’ll hear from me then. I’m going to waltz down the hall and cop a soda from the machine here in the no-tell Hotel.

Hopefully those super-geek lacrosse players aren’t in the room next door!

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